Dr Buss finally realizes that not getting Garnett, O'Neal or Artest means that Kobe, Turiaf, Radominich, and Fisher will not be enough to get a ring or even get past the second round. They trailed most of yesterday's game by 15 points before making it respectable...of course it was an preseason game but who cares...Laker diehearts do believe me and they are concerned..

With that being said>> Kobe and Mihm for Rip, Nazr, Flip, Dupree and 2nd round draft pick 2013...Ok I realize that is not enough...If I were Buss I would turn it down too. May have to throw in Tay or Max too and I know none of you would agree to that..... .

You're basically proposing Rip + Tay + salary burdon for Kobe + Mihm... that seems like a fair trade. Probably still better for us. The Lakers would get Hollywood Hamilton though, and Tay would go back to his hometown.

We'd have the best starting lineup in bball still and a potentially good bench. Billups/ Stuckey Kobe/ Afflalo Maxiell/Hayes Dyess/ Amir Sheed/ Mihm

.... wait a minute. I see what you're doing. You're trying to get all of your favorite Pistons to go to LA and stick us with that ball hog Kobe.

You're basically proposing Rip + Tay + salary burdon for Kobe + Mihm... that seems like a fair trade. Probably still better for us. The Lakers would get Hollywood Hamilton though, and Tay would go back to his hometown.

We'd have the best starting lineup in bball still and a potentially good bench. Billups/ Stuckey Kobe/ Afflalo Maxiell/Hayes Dyess/ Amir Sheed/ Mihm

.... wait a minute. I see what you're doing. You're trying to get all of your favorite Pistons to go to LA and stick us with that ball hog Kobe.

Click to expand...

Didn't think about that scenario but of course I would still be pulling for my original homeboyz Pistons. Tay and Rip would get some sentimental cheers from me if I ever show up at any Laker Games

As far as ballhog Kobe goes he would be limited to just taking the combined average shots per game last year of Rip and Tay about (30 maybe)

Dr Buss finally realizes that not getting Garnett, O'Neal or Artest means that Kobe, Turiaf, Radominich, and Fisher will not be enough to get a ring or even get past the second round. They trailed most of yesterday's game by 15 points before making it respectable...of course it was an preseason game but who cares...Laker diehearts do believe me and they are concerned..

With that being said>> Kobe and Mihm for Rip, Nazr, Flip, Dupree and 2nd round draft pick 2013...Ok I realize that is not enough...If I were Buss I would turn it down too. May have to throw in Tay or Max too and I know none of you would agree to that..... .

Is the increasingly ridiculous Kobe "should I stay or should I go" soap opera finally coming to an end?

The Lakers, according to NBA front-office sources, have no looming intentions to initiate any Bryant trade discussions and would still prefer to hang onto to their most popular player since Magic Johnson. There is nonetheless a growing belief around the league that the proposals will be flooding in now and that Bryant will indeed be moved -- possibly even before the season starts -- after last week's admission from Lakers owner Jerry Buss that he "would certainly listen" to trade offers for Bryant in the wake of Kobe's loud declaration last May that he wants out … and Kobe's subsequent refusals to recant the request.

So edgy is Lakerland that Bryant, after dodging the media for a few days, was forced to address reports Tuesday that he has already cleaned out his locker at the team's practice facility. One team source insisted to ESPN.com that Bryant indeed removed his personal belongings, but Bryant and agent Rob Pelinka told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher that Kobe had merely cleaned up his locker after Monday's practice, leaving plenty behind.

Yet such is the tension around the team now that Bryant can't sit out a practice without sparking an immediate panic that he's leaving for Chicago or Dallas, with multiple sources insisting that Bryant -- who possesses the league's only active no-trade clause -- lists the Mavericks as his No. 1 destination.

It's a tension Kobe created, of course, when he demanded a trade nearly five months ago with a slew of critical comments aimed at the organization that helped make him a worldwide brand and which backed him steadfastly through a sexual-assault trial in the 2003-04 season. But Buss' comments -- which Bryant admitted Tuesday "caught me off guard a little bit '' -- appear to have permanently changed the dynamic.

Those comments marked the first-ever acknowlegment from the Lakers of any openness to parting with Bryant, after months of scoffing at the mere suggestion.

I hope something happens after all this media hoopla from Mark Stein and others. I think it would make the NBA more interesting to see Kobe on a different team. The Lakers are gonna want A LOT. Players, draft-picks, first-born children, coupons to Chuck E. Cheese.

Imagine if he went to Chicago? Wow, that would really be something. That would change the balance of things in the NBA fo sho.

I didn't really read back through all the possible Pistons trade scenarios but I think the Lakers would most certainly want Amir Johnson to be involved in any trade. But I think having Kobe on a Pistons team would run counter to Joe D's philosophy of team ball. Kobe is simply not a team player from what I've seen and I'm not sure he can become one. In that respect, Jordan was a much better player because he finally listened to Jackson on that issue.